Until Eternity
by iamdelilah
Summary: A sugary sweet love story just in times for Valentine's Day. Standalone fic.


**A/N: This is written in a narrative format. Past tense re-tellings will use past tense actions. They will end in 'ed' and so on and so forth. Also, single quotations are used to differentiate previously spoken words as opposed to the ones towards the end of the piece that take place presently. I can't believe I'm explaining this, but please realize these things and that my writing is not inconsistent. Thanks and enjoy! :DD

* * *

**Shane and Jason have been together for a while now, a little over eleven years. They've been married for six of those glorious years.

The boys met in Jason's junior year of high school. Shane was a freshman. He was a bad boy with a record of destructive, childish behavior and Jason, having been in the National Honor Society (not because of his hidden genius, mind you, but because his mother is on the school board), was assigned to the fifteen-year-old monster. His task was to tutor Shane and act like an older brother.

The two hit it off rather quickly and it didn't take very long for Shane to open up to his mentor. No longer than two weeks after they started talking Shane admitted that he had a crush on Jason. The scene was rather adorable, really.

'Jason,' Shane had said while they were working on math problems. Well, Shane was working and Jason was trying to help, but let's face it; Jason isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. Although maybe- no, more likely than not, Jason is sweeter than the sweetest truffle in a box of chocolates.

'What?' Jason replied, taking a sip of the orange soda he had brought with him.

Shane tried to speak properly but he just couldn't, so his words came out in a jumbled mess when he confessed, 'I sorta have a crush on you.'

Jason, having misheard the mumbled sentence, replied, 'You can have a sip of mine.'

'What?' the freshman had countered.

'I said that if you want a Crush soda you can have a sip of mine.'

'Oh my God,' muttered Shane as he sat his pencil down on the desk. He involuntarily rolled his eyes and then refocused his attention on his mentor.

'What?' Jason asked slowly, softly.

'I said that I have a crush on you,' Shane admitted more clearly and gently.

And just then Jason leaned forward, initiating Shane's first ever real high school kiss. His lips captured Shane's top one first, caressing it gently as he seemed to barely massage the puffy pink flesh with his own. He pulled back and a soft, common smacking was is heard when the two parted.

'W-Was that okay?' Jason questioned, feeling rather self-conscious. 'I've never kissed anyone like that before. I mean, I kiss my mom but that-'

'It was nice,' Shane replied with a small smile. 'I've never been kissed...'

The two stayed there for several more seconds until Shane felt it was his time to lean forward again. With grace he rested his hand on Jason's knee and pushed his mouth to Jason's. Neither of them moved at first, but when the younger boy was at a loss and didn't know how to proceed, Jason grabbed Shane's hand (the one resting on the junior's leg) and held it with his own. He tugged at the fifteen-year-old until he was sitting on Jason's lap. Eventually, this developed and they were having a full-on make out session in the den of Shane's empty house.

When their lips were bruised and neither of them had the gumption or energy to kiss anymore, they just sat there silently. Shane had his arms around Jason's neck, hands tousling the long hair on his head and the junior's arms were looped around the freshman's waist.

'My mom's probably waiting for me,' Jason finally whispered against Shane's earlobe. 'I need to get home. I have homework of my own to do.'

'But I don't want you to go,' Shane admitted whole-heartedly, hesitating briefly before hugging Jason's neck. 'You can do it here. P-Please don't leave, Jason. I'm lonely when my mom's at work.'

Jason gently pushed Shane from his lap and the younger male glared at his mentor. Jason ripped a corner of Shane's scrap paper and took the boy's pencil before scribbling his instant message screen name down along with his phone number. He gathered his belongings, slung his book bag over his shoulder and gave Shane the piece of paper along with a kiss on the cheek. 'Call or IM me when you get lonely, okay?' he asked.

'Okay,' Shane agreed with a nod. He saw the older boy to and out the door, watched as Jason climbed into his shiny black car and told himself something: Jason isn't stupid. Not in a common sense way, at least. Sure he's always a little distracted and it takes him a while to process things, but in no way, shape or form is he 'dumb' like everyone thinks.

And after that one night, Shane and Jason were bound together forever. They had their share of misunderstandings, fights, disagreements and squabbles but all couples do. Their first real fight was nothing pretty. Shane had hurt Jason very much.

Jason had just gotten home from his first semester of college. He called Shane a few days earlier and made plans for them to go out for dinner, and then spend the night at a nice hotel down town. Shane was ecstatic at the thought. He knew the evening would hold many special things. They would talk for hours about the different experiences they had during the long-distance relationship. Shane would look up at Jason with these big, brown eyes and the elder boy's heart would melt. Jason would tell Shane secrets his roommates made him swear not to talk about, and Shane would get his turn to complain about high school teachers and having to finish school without Jason there to experience it with him.

But that night, Jason sat at the restaurant. Two glasses of iced tea were on the table and Jason's was half-way gone as the ice cubes in Shane's cup continued to melt. It was seven thirty-four and Shane was supposed to meet his lover at seven. Jason was constantly texting Shane and leaving voice mails, begging Shane to call or give him some word of when the younger boy would arrive.

Eight o'clock came and went. By nine o'clock the crowd was thinning and Jason's eyes were focused on the room-temperature drink in front of him. Shane never showed up. Turned out he was hanging with his immature high school friends, doing immature high school boy things like egging the houses of enemies, licking Jolly Ranchers and sticking them to random car windows and removing the doors to drop-down mail boxes.

Jason wasn't the same after that. There was always a little bit of hurt him side of him for the longest time, even after the two had kissed and made up. He wasn't so completely sweet anymore, and could get angry when prompted. But that was years ago, more fights have come and gone but needless to say Shane learned his lesson: don't hurt Jason. If you do, he won't talk to you for almost an entire month. In the time after that, though, Shane has made Jason his first priority and Jason has done the same.

Their relationship to this date has stood strong. Jason has a job teaching photography at a local college and Shane is a middle school guidance counselor. Needless to say their careers go hand-in-hand and it's obvious that the way they met had an influence on that. They figure they're way too domestic for still being in their twenties, but they enjoy life as it is.

The couple has a nice little suburban home on the coast of Virginia. The house is lushly furnished, two stories high and kept very neat. In the front hard is a white picket fence and in the backyard is Chance, their beloved mutt dog. There are eight rooms in the house: a kitchen, a dining room, a living area, a master bedroom, a guest room, an office and then there's the spare room.

Jason thinks having the room empty is ridiculous. He can just picture its beige walled covered in baby blue paint. He can visualize a rustic white crib sitting caddy-cornered in the far area of the room, right in front of the bay window that ironically faces the Atlantic Ocean that swells behind the house. A dresser would adorn the left wall, and a changing table would sit just opposite of the crib. And Jason can imagine Shane sitting in a matching rocking chair, hair shining as the warm southern sun hits the black locks on its trip through the open window. The summer breeze would tousle the younger man's bangs, Shane would rub his pregnant belly and smile just a little brighter than before. Jason also sees himself sitting cross-legged on the floor, acoustic guitar in his lap as he plays for his husband and their soon-to-be-born baby.

Jason has been telling Shane for a while now that he's ready to be a parent. He thinks their lives are near perfect but with the addition to a family, it would be absolutely flawless. The twenty-eight-year-old has dropped many hints about it to Shane, who constantly shrugs the clues off as some of Jason's random comments. For the last year or so this has happened, until one incident really tore at Shane's twenty-six-year-old heart.

'Shay?' Jason had asked softly over a romantic, candlelit dinner.

'Mhm?' the younger male replied.

'I was wondering about something the other day.'

'What's that?' Shane asked, half-way curious.

'When can we start a family?'

Shane took a bite of his meatloaf, chewed slowly as he thought up an answer and swallowed. 'I don't know.'

'Well, I was just thinking that we have that one spare room. We're not really doing anything with it and I was just... I don't know. I was kind of tossing the idea of a baby around, you know?'

'Oh,' was Shane's simple reply. The remainder of the meal went on in silence until Jason muttered that he was done and would clean up the kitchen later. And something alarmed Shane; this wasn't his Jason. His husband would never leave the kitchen dirty or go upstairs when unclear air hung above them.

Jason went to the office with his students' latest projects spread out in front of him. He was supposed to be grading but he couldn't concentrate, though. He kept staring off into the distance, and ended up lying down in the bedroom for several hours before he actually fell asleep.

Shane ended up doing the dishes and giving the leftovers from the meal to Chance. He set the coffee pot for in the morning and locked up for the night before climbing into bed next to his lover.

He snuggled against Jason's strong, bare back and wrapped an arm around his husband. This was unusual, too. Jason _always_ made sure to kiss Shane goodnight, to tell him that he loves him and Shane would always sleep in Jason's arms with his head tucked under Jason's chin.

The following morning Jason awoke before Shane. He went down stairs wearing only his bathrobe and boxers, smiling faintly when he saw the kitchen he'd forgotten to clean. Shane had taken care of it for him, and Shane could also be thanked for the freshly-made coffee timed by the coffee pot to brew just minutes before the couple was to wake up.

The twenty-eight-year-old sat at the table with his morning beverage. His laptop was opened in front of him and he was checking his email when Shane entered a while later.

'Hey,' Shane said softly, pouring himself his own cup. He carried the mug to the table and took a seat next to his husband.

'Morning,' Jason replied, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his partner's cheek. He was feeling a bit better than when he went to bed.

'I thought a lot last night,' the twenty-six-year-old spoke up. 'I didn't sleep very well, either.'

'I'm sorry, Baby,' Jason responded honestly. His eyes lifted from his computer screen because he could tell that by the way Shane was talking there was a serious problem lying with the younger man. 'Do you wanna talk about it?'

'I do,' Shane confirmed. He reached out and took Jason's left hand, thumb sliding across the back of it and stroking the silver ring that sits on his husband's third finger. 'I think I'm ready to have a baby.'

The twenty-eight-year-old couldn't help but smile. His shiny white teeth peeked through his pink lips and he asked, 'Really?'

'Yeah,' Shane said, blushing a bit at his husband's reaction. 'I was thinking that maybe we could stay home today and work on that a bit, hm?'

Jason chuckled that low, manly laugh that only came out sometimes, like when he was really excited. He stood up, took his coffee mug, grabbed Shane's hand and the couple went back upstairs, together this time.

That was about seven months ago. It's now Saturday, February fourteenth. Shane and Jason both had to work today, much to their dismays. They did manage to find time to have lunch alone even if it was only a pizza place that they went to. Shane had insisted and Jason gave in.

But now it's nearing six o'clock and it's coming time for Jason to pull up in the drive way. Shane is scurrying around the kitchen trying to dispose of any restaurant trash that may still be present. He planned on actually cooking for Jason, but he fell asleep on the couch after his hard day at work and his cooking kind of sucks anyway. Chance, the dog, is lying in her bed on the floor in the corner of the kitchen. A pink bandanna is tied around her neck, giving her a perfect look for the occasion. The scene is picturesque.

As if on cue, Jason pulls up and walks through the door maybe ten minutes later. He smells the food and automatically knows it's from a restaurant because Shane can't cook to save his life, but Jason thinks it's utterly sweet nonetheless.

"Hey," Jason beams, pecking his lover's mouth before paying a short visit to a now-antsy Chance. "Smells good." Shane makes a humming noise, trying his hardest not to slip up and disappoint Jason, even though the elder of the two knows. "Let me change real quick and I'll be back." He goes upstairs to their bedroom, drops his jacket to the floor and changes into simple skinny jeans and a black graphic t-shirt. He re-enters the kitchen to see Shane sitting there, bright-eyed and smiling more than ever. Well, not as much as on their wedding day as he was walked up to Jason wearing an ivory tux, but he's still grinning _a lot_.

The meal goes by rather quickly and Shane is done first. He practically inhaled his portion because the food is from his favorite restaurant. Once again, Jason knows that and he thinks that maybe since Shane was doing something special for _him_, the twenty-six-year-old should have gotten Jason's favorite delicacy. It's okay, though, because they love each other and the grub is pretty good, anyway.

When the table is cleared and the two are sitting in the living room with their glasses of fine wine, feet up on the couch as they face each other with their knees almost touching. Chance is sitting on the ground with her long nose between the lovers, panting as her tail beats on the wooden floor beneath her as if she's anticipating something.

"You wanna go first?" Shane asks.

A small, wrapped-up box sits in Jason's lap and an even smaller one is in Shane's.

"You first," Jason says.

"Wait, what?" Shane asks after a minute, causing them to both pause and think. They share a sweet laugh together, genuinely entertained at how they can both seem to get confused with one wrongly worded question.

"You open mine," the twenty-eight-year-old says, taking the small box from his lap and giving it to Shane.

The dark-haired male nods, smiling as he removes the conversation heart wrapping paper. His eyes shoot up when he sees the Rolex crown logo on top of the black box. "You didn't," Shane breathes before Jason motions for him to open the container. When the twenty-six-year-old sees the steel watch with diamond accents, he hops up and pounces on Jason, flinging his arms around his husband's neck and nuzzling their cheeks together. "You did!" Shane squeals, kissing Jason repeatedly before pulling back and shaking as he puts the forty-five hundred dollar piece of jewelry on his left wrist. "You shouldn't have, Jase." Shane smiles brightly when he realizes that the piece matches his wedding band (also adorned with diamond accents). "But I'm glad you did." He smiles at Jason once more, sighing happily before leaning forward and giving the older male a heartfelt kiss. They share a soft laugh. "Your turn," Shane almost whispers now, emotions changing rapidly as he gives Jason the small rectangular box in his possession. He begins to shake as his husband takes the package and proceeds to unwrap it.

Jason is curious now. His eyebrows furrow when he realizes the box is just a plain cardboard one. Slowly and with caution he opens the taped-up end and drops the content into his lap. He picks up the small plastic stick and, holding it upside down, stares at it. "Um, Shay, I think you gave me the wrong thing or something..."

Shane, still remaining quiet, looks up at his husband. "Turn it around," he says softly, wringing his hands with worry.

Jason obeys, peering into the tiny oval at the end of the stick immediately and reading the word 'pregnant' in it. He slowly raises his eyes up to look at Shane, who's smiling like crazy now. "Really?" he asks, voice squeaky.

Shane nods, brown eyes sparkling with excitement. "I found out a few days ago."

Jason simply smiles that big, toothy grin in which the apples of his cheeks appear to be extremely chubby and then he laughs for no reason. He outstretches his arms to his partner.

Shane giggles, coming into his husband's embrace and closing his eyes when Jason's head comes to rest on his shoulder. "I love you," he whispers, nuzzling his face into his lover's warm neck.

"Love you too," Jason beams back, squeezing his husband just a little tighter than before.


End file.
